Woman Owned: The Growth Podcast for Women Entrepreneurs

Being laid off is hard for everyone. My guest today is Kelly Meerbott. In 2009, Kelly was laid off from her high-paid, high-flying job as a Senior Executive of a Fortune 500 company, along with many of her co-workers. Today, Kelly is the founder of the company YOU: Loud and Clear, a highly sought-after coaching business where she helps executives and corporate leaders elevate their businesses, teams, and results to a higher level of consciousness, unlocking tangible results as well as the personal and spiritual benefits.

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On today's episode, Kelly shares how she navigated the turning point of being laid off to growing a highly successful business as a leadership coach and speaker. She shares how she got started in her business, the power of resilience, and the importance of having patience in all areas of your business or organization.

"Embrace the pain. Try to endure it because the more you resist it, the more it's going to come back in full force." – Kelly Meerbott

Today on the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast:

• How your physical body can sometimes indicate that you need to pivot your career – even before your heart and head.
• Your social self and what can happen when it is at odds with who you really are.
• Honing emotional intelligence and creating a culture of ownership.
• Raising the level of consciousness inside your business to drive results.
• Being a good corporate citizen and being socially responsible within and outside of your business or organization.
• How to build a diverse culture within your organization.
• Being resilient and unafraid of failure.
• How painful moments and experiences in your career are important for making changes.

Connect with Kelly Meerbott:

• com
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram

Love the show? Let us know!

Are you a fan of the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast? If the tips and interviews we share in each episode have helped you gain the confidence and inspiration to become a better, more powerful leader, head on over to iTunes, subscribe to the show and leave your honest review to let us know! Each month, one lucky podcast reviewer will be selected to receive a free coaching session with me – Eleanor Beaton!

What are you waiting for? Head on over to iTunes, subscribe and leave a review to enter your name into this month's drawing!

And, if you really want to ramp up your fierceness…

Reach out to us for a free 30-minute Bold Women in Business Makeover Session with me or one of the fabulous coaches on my team!

Explore your path and discover how you can be the fiercest lady-boss possible. Visit EleanorBeaton.com/Discover.

A Special Thank You to Our Sponsors

This episode was made possible by our wonderful sponsors, BMO – Bank of Montreal.

Right now is an incredibly exciting time for the state of small business. Thousands of people around the world are getting inspired to start a business, work for themselves, and follow their passions. In fact, statistics have shown that over the last 20 years, the growth rate of non-employer businesses in the United States has grown by a whopping 62%! Payroll jobs, however, have only grown by about 12%. More and more people around the world are realizing the shaky ground that is occurring throughout "traditional employment" and deciding to take action and take their fate into their own hands.

Keep Reading >

Today, fierce ones, I am talking with author, speaker, and business strategist, Tara Gentile. Tara is a regular instructor on the CreativeLive series and has been featured in many publications including FastCompany, Forbes, and Design Sponge. She has also been featured in The New York Times bestselling book by Chris Guillebeau – The $100 Start Up. Tara passionately works with small businesses and "idea-driven" entrepreneurs, teaching them how to lead themselves and their business based on what makes them most effective and compelling. She joins me on the show today to share her insight and knowledge about what's happening in the state of small business and what fierce women like you should focus on to achieve your business goals.

We have to be connected to what it is that we are actually trying to accomplish, the vision that we are actually trying to make real." – Tara Gentile

Today on the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast:

• The distinction between "the gig economy" and "the new economy."
• The difference between the "employee" mindset and the "business owner" mindset.
• How Tara moved through and overcame the challenge of shifting her mindset from employee to business owner.
• The "Quiet Power Strategy."
• What are "growth styles."
• Why you should 10x your revenue goals.

Tara's Advice to Fierce Women Entrepreneurs:

1. Don't hold yourself back. Be mindful of the choices you make.

1. Focus on others. Business is about other people – not filling a personal emotional void.

1. Set bigger goals.

Connect with Tara Gentile:

• TaraGentile.com
• Profit. Power. Pursuit. Podcast
• Growth Styles Workshop

Love the show? Let us know!

Are you a fan of the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast? If the tips and interviews we share in each episode have helped you gain the confidence and inspiration to become a better, more powerful leader, head on over to iTunes, subscribe to the show and leave your honest review to let us know! Each month, one lucky podcast reviewer will be selected to receive a free coaching session with me – Eleanor Beaton!

What are you waiting for? Head on over to iTunes, subscribe and leave a review to enter your name into this month's drawing!

And, if you really want to ramp up your fierceness…

Reach out to us for a free 30-minute Bold Women in Business Makeover Session with me or one of the fabulous coaches on my team!

Explore your path and discover how you can be the fiercest lady-boss possible. Visit EleanorBeaton.com/Discover.

On today's episode of Fierce Feminine Leadership...

It took less than 2 years for CEO and Founder of BikiniLuxe, Candice Galek to parlay her experience as a swimsuit model into a thriving multimillion dollar online swimwear business. What started as a tiny startup on her living room table in Miami Beach, FL is now a global powerhouse business with a team of 40 members worldwide and quarter million social media followers.

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From the onset of BikiniLuxe, Candice realized she needed to leverage her wealth of knowledge about the swimsuit industry as well as the connections she had made during her modeling career to get BikiniLuxe off the ground. That coupled with her strong skillset in sales and customer relations laid the foundation for her success.

More about BikiniLuxe

• They sell over 4000 swimwear products for women and men through the site.
• Most of the brands represented on the site have demonstrated a corporate social responsibility in which they give back to the community.
• Entering into their third year they'll hit $5 million in sales.

Candice's Advice to Entrepreneurs...

• Be open to new ideas and push the boundaries
• Leverage your connections to gain legitimate information and to gain new connections
• When making connections make the highest connection you can possibly reach.
• Don't spend too much time on one thing.- pitch 20 people rather than spending a lot of time on one person
• Look to large scale businesses to see what they are doing wrong and try and do it better
• Be persistent
• "Don't spend your time or money on being boring."

Candice on embracing controversy and being galvanizing in expressing your views.

• Attention spans are short- people are one click away from scrolling by you and your content. Controversy can help keep people focused on you and your message.
• Controversy can be leveraged into massive social media reach.

Connect with Candice

www.Bikiniluxe.com

Serious in taking your own career to the next level?

Go to www.eleanorbeaton.com/successpack to download our Success Pack. You'll get access to my Ee-book Success Secrets of Bold Women in Business as well as 4 interview recordings with powerhouse women in business who will help you advance your career.

Happy International Women's Day! This year's motto of International Women's Day is "Be Bold." Which leads to the questions, what does it mean to be truly bold? What would be possible if you were able to unlock 15% more confidence, influence, presence and power- simply put, if you were able to be more bold?

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To create incredible transformation in this world, it is important for us to act in bold ways and harness our confidence.

Steps to Being Bold

1. Make the commitment to your dream/goal/idea
2. Have the courage to take action
3. Break things down so you can actually execute said dream/goal/idea
4. Develop the confidence you need to be bold and implement the actions

My challenge to you

Don't wait for confidence to take your next steps. Make the commitment to the best version of you and to make the changes you want to make so you can ultimately create the life, career, impact and significance that you desire.

Today on Fierce Feminine Leadership…

Today we're talking to the accomplished copy conversion mentor, speaker and published author, Sarah Grear. Sarah has personally written copy for over 200 businesses from start-ups to 7 figures. She has been featured by Huffington post as one of the top 50 must follow entrepreneurs for 2017.

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Her focus is on helping entrepreneurs turn online lookers into online buyers with persuasive writing. Today Sarah will demonstrate to us the wealth of opportunity inherent in the world of online business for women entrepreneurs.

More about Sarah Grear….

• Sarah has been a speaker at many events, including social media week in Los Angeles
• Her DIY online writing class has over 1000 students
• She was previously a travel blogger
• After doing several online videos, Sarah was offered many speaking opportunities. People saw her confidence and authority shine through the camera and realized her potential.

The online world helps you close the income gap for earning online, and changes the possibilities from what you were told could not be possible to reality. There is no ceiling for how much you can earn within the online world.

According to Sarah, many of her female clients have closed the income gap and been successful in their online businesses by leaning into their strengths. Being clear on what you are good at and building a strong team to fill in the gaps where you have weaknesses is crucial.

3 power moves that Sarah implements to help her be more successful:

1. Celebration- Sarah celebrates every step of her business. All the little things need to be celebrated. No matter the results you have got out of your launch or event, you should still celebrate.
2. Learn how to upgrade your thoughts-You need to learn how to look at things in a positive light, and look at them as upgrades.
3. Learn how to be playful. Learn to be playful, even when there are a lot of moving parts around you. This will allow you to stay grounded and focus on your goals.

Mentioned this episode

The Well Fed Writer

Connect with Sarah Grear

https://www.sarahgrear.com/

Today on Fierce Feminine Leadership...

When it comes to advancing your career and growing your business, I'm a huge advocate of engaging in panel presentations, speaking on stages, and doing workshops.

Recently, I was speaking to...

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Recently I was coaching a very successful, experienced, and established woman in business about speaking and taking the stage more, and she expressed to me that one of her number one concerns around doing that is opening herself up to public criticism.

When you are on a stage and somebody raises their hand to ask a question, there is always the possibility that you may encounter some kickback from an audience member. Here's what you can do if you find yourself face-to-face with a dreaded heckler:

5 Tips to Handle Hecklers:

1. Breathe. This is an opportunity for you to step into your leadership and demonstrate your poise. Do that by making sure that your brain is filled with good clean oxygen.
2. Determine if the person is simply asking a tough question or if it is a personal attack. If it's a tough question, you have several choices:
   1. You made endeavour to answer that question,
   2. You may respond with a question,
   3. You may pivot the question to something you actually want to talk about,
   4. Or you may simply say" let me get back to you on that, I don't have that information right now."
3. Don't engage, disengage. Do not respond to them by staring at them directly but by looking around at the audience while you are responding. Do not give a heckler energy and focus because that is what they feed on.
4. If there is a rant, interrupt the rant. Say "Excuse me sir/ma'am, what is your question?" If they start ranting again you ask them to use the words "My question is" to receive more clarity.
5. Ask for support. You may ask someone from your team to speak with this person individually or you may choose to involve the audience. You may say respectfully, to the audience, "Should I go on with the rest of my presentation, or do you want to hear more from this person?" At this point you will likely receive support to move on with your presentation.

Calling all Coaches, Consultants and Thought Leaders…

If you are starting a business or have just launched a business and you are in the thought leader, coach, consultant, or expert space, I want to share with you a fabulous new video training series that I've just launched.

In this 4 video training series you'll learn:

• The biggest mistakes that I see coaches, consultants and thought leader based people making when they are building their businesses.
• Tips and strategies that you can put in place in your business right now in order to build a healthy thriving business

Head over to http://www.eleanorbeaton.com/training to learn more.

Sometimes as women we tend to justify our position, or build up a strong argument in favour of our ask. When we don't want to justify and we don't want to beg, what we need to do is position.

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Positioning is ultimately a skill, that when mastered will become one of the most powerful communication tools you have. This tool can ultimately separate women of pre-eminence from everybody else.

You use positioning anytime you want to influence an outcome:

• when asking someone for a sale,
• when engaged in business development,
• when sitting around the boardroom table,
• or when asking for a job/raise/promotion.

Why is it that so many of these opportunities break down? It's a lack of, or improper positioning.

Positioning is the way you frame your ask, argument or offer to make it relevant, compelling and urgent.

If you want to influence an outcome, you must make it relevant, compelling, and urgent to the person who you are addressing. The idea behind this is that people are far too preoccupied and stressed to care about what you have to say. On a day-to-day basis, the average person focuses primarily on their own problems and issues. If you want to really reach a person, you need to give someone a reason to care about what it is you have say.

Most people are tuned into "WIIFM" (What's In It For Me) radio. Moreover, most people do not like change and will avoid making decisions until they need to. That is why if you are trying to make a change, you MUST make it relevant, compelling and urgent.

On Today's Episode.……

Mechanical engineer, social advocate, and writer Yassmin Abdel-Magied discusses redefining the narrative and views on young Muslim women. Eleanor and Yassmin discuss how Yassmin has set out to do the things that she wants to do, rather than go along with the expectations deemed by society around her.

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As a young Muslim women Yassmin faces unconscious bias and racism in her line of work as a mechanical engineer where she is surrounded primarily by white males. Yassmin is a force to be reckoned with and has proven time after time that it is possible to stand out and be who you want to be as well as do what you want to do in life.

About Yassmin

• She is mechanical engineer by profession, amatuer boxer, and race car enthusiast
• 2015 winner of the Queensland Young Australian Of the Year Award
• Yassmin advocates for the empowerment of youth, women, and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
• Yassmin founded the non-profit organization Youth Without Borders at age 16 and today at age 25 she is a passionate advocate for young Muslim women.
• The Truth About Racism is a documentary that Yassmin filmed last year that covers the neuroscience behind racism and bias.
• Recently started an organization called MUMTAZA which empowers women of color to reach positions of power and influence

Takeaways

• Live your own story- choose what you want to do versus following what everybody else is doing
• Consciously choose to believe your dreams are possible- First you need to consciously make the decision you're going to do something and then figure out how you're going to execute.
  • Don't let doubt negate your ideas or dreams
  • Make your dreams achievable by breaking them down into smaller steps to get there

Within Yassmin's line of work and organizations she has started, she has encountered criticism. Typically if you are a women, who is young, black, Muslim etc, you will most likely be told you are wrong and that you shouldn't have the opinions that you have. Yassmin's goal is to bring light to these racial issues and be an advocate for the empowerment of young diverse women.

Connect with Yassmin

http://www.yassminam.com/

Youth Without Borders

Check out My Free Video Training Series…

If you are starting a business or have just launched a business and you are in the thought leader, coach, consultant, or expert space, I want to share with you a fabulous new video training series that I've just launched.

In this 4 video training series you'll learn:

• The biggest mistakes that I see coaches, consultants and thought leader based people making when they are building their businesses.
• Tips and strategies that you can put in place in your business right now in order to build a healthy thriving business

Head over to http://www.eleanorbeaton.com/training to learn more.

On this Episode of Fierce Feminine Leadership...

When it comes to creating the success that you crave, many women let themselves down by not executing on the little things day in and day out that will ultimately make a difference.

• The little things are what can hold you back from success in your business
• You wake up every day with choices. Will you say "yes" to an invitation to speak at an event? Will you ask for the sale?
• Each day you are faced with moments where you can lean in to the challenge, and take a small step.
• You mustn't listen to the voice inside you that says it is too hard or too much work. If you do, the big things will not happen for you.

Remember…

If you have big dreams and big goals, you MUST take the small consistent daily risks required to get yourself a seat at the big tables. It's the emails and calls that you have to execute if you want to achieve your BIG GOALS this year. It is the COURAGE you must have in the moment to keep showing up.

If you show up for the little things, the big things will take care of themselves.

Final thoughts...

If you execute on just a few simple shifts or small changes, you can add thousands of dollars to your revenue. To be successful you must be confident in yourself and be confident in the shifts you are making.

If you want to alter your trajectory for your business an career through major changes, stop worrying so much on the big things and focus instead on the little moments throughout the day that will make a difference.

Calling all Coaches, Consultants and Thought Leaders…

If you are starting a business or have just launched a business and you are in the thought leader, coach, consultant, or expert space, I want to share with you a fabulous new video training series that I've just launched.

In this 4 video training series you'll learn:

• The biggest mistakes that I see coaches, consultants and thought leader based people making when they are building their businesses.
• Tips and strategies that you can put in place in your business right now in order to build a healthy thriving business

Head over to http://www.eleanorbeaton.com/training to learn more.

On this Episode of Fierce Feminine Leadership……

The most powerful opportunities in your career are most likely to be coming from your connections. In a study of thousands of senior women, done by the LeanIn Organization and McKinsey & Co., they discovered that senior women actually attributed most of their career advancement to their connections. The research also showed that women have far fewer ties to influential people than men. Rather than networking across or down as most women do, women need to cultivate powerful ties to senior, powerful, influential and well-connected people.

Networking can be an incredible tool to help you build or advance your career if done correctly.

Networking 101

Spend 10-20% of your time developing powerful relationships. Powerhouse women understand that their success is not just what they can do personally, but their success is derived from their delivery system.

Show up at networking events ready to connect with others as everyday people. Talk to them about experiences that shaped you as a person or even your vacation plans. This allows the conversation to be interesting and be about more than just work.

Triage is the name of the game. Powerhouse women research the event formats that they are going to attend and prioritize events that offer plenty of mingling. They are not just showing up to see a speaker, they are showing up to mingle and network with other people at the event.

Do your research! Find out who is going to be at the event and even do some research a head of time to find out what they do and more about their company. This will put you in a powerful and knowledgeable position.

Ask for the contact information from the ppl you want to connect with most.

Keep in touch with people. The last thing you want to do is lose that connection.

Final Remarks

Networking is one of the most powerful and important things you can take part in. Networking allows you to have meaningful connections and find people within organizations that can benefit you and your life. Keeping in touch with those connections is vital for your future, as you may need to call on one of your relationships for something one day.

Calling all Coaches, Consultants and Thought Leaders…

If you are starting a business or have just launched a business and you are in the thought leader, coach, consultant, or expert space, I want to share with you a fabulous new video training series that I've just launched.

In this 4 video training series you'll learn:

• The biggest mistakes that I see coaches, consultants and thought leader based people making when they are building their businesses.
• Tips and strategies that you can put in place in your business right now in order to build a healthy thriving business

Head over to http://www.eleanorbeaton.com/training to learn more.